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ndonesia is currently banned from international tournaments, but domestic soccer seems to remain in full throttle as the President'€™s Cup heads for its climax with the final match on Sunday between Persib Bandung and Sriwijaya FC from Palembang.

While the match at Jakarta'€™s Bung Karno Stadium promises to please fans with an entertaining soccer contest between two prominent clubs, concerns have been raised over possible hostilities between fans. These concerns have prompted local authorities to declare a '€˜full alert'€™ precautionary status.

'€œThe Jakarta Police are ready to deploy up to 30,000 police officers to secure the match. Nine thousand will be in place at the match venue, providing escorts for fans, players, team officials as well as marshaling volatile gathering points,'€ police spokesperson Mohammad Iqbal said on Thursday.

'€œSupporters from Bandung will be escorted by fellow officers from the regional police office. Representatives from the West Java Police were invited to yesterday'€™s coordination meeting, along with those from Banten and South Sumatra,'€ Iqbal said.

Security concerns, apparently, revolve not so much around supporters of these two opposing teams, but rather around the Bobotoh, the nickname of Persib Bandung supporters, and the Jakmania, or Persija Jakarta fans.

The two groups of fans are notorious for their long-time mutual hostility '€” at times turning fatal. The latest incident flared up in May last year when a brawl between them at the end of their teams'€™ match at Bung Karno Stadium left three fans dead.

Some 80,000 Persib fans from a number of regencies in West Java are expected to flock to Jakarta, arriving in 300 buses.

'€œWe'€™re expecting about 300 busses of the Bobotoh coming to Jakarta,'€ Bekasi Police spokesman Adj. Comm. Siswo was quoted by Antara news agency as saying in Bekasi, West Java.

He said the convoy might instigate mayhem, including rival fans possibly throwing stones at the vehicles.

As a precautionary measure, 1,500 security personnel from Bekasi Police, the Bekasi district Military Command (Kodim) and the Bekasi Transportation Agency (Dishub) will be deployed to help secure areas of Bekasi that the Bobotoh will be passing through on their way to Senayan.

Iqbal urged the visiting fans not to display club attributes in the streets for fear of inciting acts of hostility from the Jakmania.

'€œToday, the West Java Police had a meeting with several parties, including from Jakmania. They obtained assurances that the Jakmani would be welcoming and that Persib fans would be good guests. We hope the fans remain in groups, not detaching from the groups,'€ he said.

The President'€™s Cup, which officially kicked off in Gianyar, Bali, on Aug. 30, was initiated by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo following a halt in all domestic tournaments, including the Indonesian Super League (ISL), because of a crisis resulting from altercations between the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) and the sports ministry.

PSSI rejected the ministry'€™s call to exclude two '€˜legally flawed'€™ clubs from the ISL.

The conflict led to a suspension of PSSI by the minister, a move that world soccer governing body FIFA regarded as unjustified government intervention in soccer affairs and for which FIFA later banned Indonesia from international tournaments. (agn)